Are Dollar Rallies Still A Chance To Sell?

 | Mar 28, 2017 08:57

h3 Market Overview

In most trending moves there will be minor bumps in the road. The dollar looks to be trending lower now but a minor rally into the close last night has just posed a few questions. Are the dollar rallies still a chance to sell?

The sense is that the trend is still intact and there is room for further correction. The Trade Weighted Dollar Index just closed at 99.22, its lowest since November yesterday and a retracement back to the long term uptrend (currently around 98.0). However, Treasury yields have pulled back higher again and the dollar tends to be positively configured with yields, so this near term rally could have further legs in it.

Wall Street also bounced off the day lows into the close last night as the selling pressure just looked to abate slightly. This is allowing a bit of a recovery this morning. Fed speakers have been continuing to guide for three hikes being likely this year, whilst being data dependent for potential faster tightening. However, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans has hardly helped to clear the muddied waters by saying that there could be two, three or even four rate hikes this year.

Wall Street closed lower yet again with the Dow down for 8 consecutive sessions now, but was off its lows into the close, whilst the S&P 500 closed -0.1%. Asian markets were higher overnight with the Nikkei +0.9% and European markets are also positive in early moves. Forex markets sow a slightly positive dollar move today across the majors, with gold and silver also marginally lower. Oil is around 0.5% higher.

There is some minor US data that could impact on the markets today, starting with the S&P Case Shiller House Price Index at 1400BST which is expected to tick mildly higher to 5.7% (from 5.6%). The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence for March is at 1500BST and is expected to pull back slightly to 113.9, down from the extremely strong 114.8 in February, which was a high dating back to July 2001. The Richmond Manufacturing Index is expected to remain strong at +16 (slightly down from +17 last month). The Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan (centrist) is set to speak again at 1800BST.

Chart of the Day – AUD/USD

The importance of the near to medium term pivot around $0.7600 is clearly growing. Since the January rally started to lose momentum during February, the market has settled into a trading range of around 250 pips. The support in March held around once more $0.7500 (a key pivot level in the past six months), whilst the recent rebound high has bolstered the resistance around $0.7750. However within the range there has been a pivot that has formed around $0.7600 meaning that the market has actually been ranging since mid-January. This increases the importance of a break of the pivot. The rally ran out of steam towards the end of last week but the last two completed sessions have both again been supported by the $0.7600 pivot and also posted doji candles (which reflect uncertainty in the recent decline). However, early in the European session, the $0.7600 support looks to be giving way. With the the Bollinger Bands all but flat but interestingly basically between $0.7500/$0.7750 the way could now be open for another retracement to $0.7500. The hourly chart shows resistance is now at $0.7650 under $0.7685, but hourly momentum is taking on a corrective bias again. A closing breach of $0.7600 opens $0.7537 initially but more likely a move towards the range lows again (ie. towards the lower Bollinger Band).

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